Flores volcano explodes

MAUMERE, East Nusa Tenggara: One of the twin peaks of Mt. Lewotobi on Flores Island gushed ash and gravel on Thursday, its first explosion since April 1990.

Witnesses said the hot materials were spewed some one kilometer over the crater of the peak, locally called male Lewotobi, and blanketed Larantuka, the nearest town of the 1,584- meter volcano.

No casualties were reported, but hundreds of residents near the mount fled their homes. Some of them took refuge here, which is situated 100 kilometers east of Larantuka.

The first eruption of Mt. Lewotobi, one of the most active volcanoes in Nusa Tenggara, was reported in 1861. No fatalities resulted in the 1990 explosion. (yac)